This invention relates to garment hangers which are primarily used to ship clothing from the manufacturer to the retailer. More particularly, this invention relates to garment hangers for garments of the type that could be folded or boxed and shipped unhung to retail stores.
Garments that are to be displayed hanging at the retail store may be shipped folded and boxed from the manufacturer to the retailer. This process usually involves the extra time and labor of applying hangers to the garments at the retail store prior to display. It is desirable to provide garment hangers that allow the garments to be prehung by the manufacturer so that the garments may be immediately hung and displayed upon arrival at the retail store, thereby avoiding the extra time and labor of applying hangers to the garments.
One prior method for shipping prehung garments, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,309, involves first draping the garment over the lower of two jaw-like horizontal bars joined at one end by a hinge and then clamping the upper horizontal bar down over the garment onto the lower bar by means of a clamp at the opposite end. Another method, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,265, involves first draping the garment over a lower horizontal bar and then clamping the garment to the parallel upper horizontal bar by folding the lower bar up and latching it at both ends to the upper bar. In both of these cases, a hanger hook is rigidly connected to the upper of the two horizontal bars to allow hanging of the prehung garments immediately after shipping.
Although these prior devices allow the garment to be shipped prehung and allow the hanger and garment to be hung immediately after shipping, the width of the hanger body and the protrusion of the hook occupy valuable shipping space. It is desirable to provide a garment hanger that would allow the garment to be shipped prehung, while itself occupying only a minimum of space during shipping.
The hangers disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,870,206 and 4,932,571 avoid the problem caused by the hook's protrusion by providing hooks that fold down when the hanger is not in hanging use. The hanger disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,206 allows the hinged hook to fold down and fit within the hanger body. U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,571 allows the hook and other parts of the hanger frame to fold inside an outer frame for storage of the hanger when not in use. These hanger devices are also not suitable for shipping because, even though their hooks no longer protrude, their width and, in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,571, height still occupy valuable shipping space. Moreover, neither of these hangers provides any means for securing a garment during shipping.
Additionally, none of these prior devices works for garments that are not simply draped over a horizontal bar but require additional folding or boxing as well. Because these devices provide, at most, horizontal bars which are clamped to each other, any garment that is not simply draped over a horizontal bar, but requires folding or boxing rather than hanging or in addition to hanging, may not be shipped using these prior devices.
It is desirable to provide a foldable garment hanger that could be attached to the garment, folded along with the garment and, if necessary, boxed for shipping along with the garment. Alternatively, it is desirable to provide a garment hanger that could be attached to the pre-folded garment and then, if necessary, boxed for shipping along with the garment. The advantage of this foldable hanger is that the hanger would need only to be unfolded with the garment and then hung in order to be displayed. This would save the time and labor ordinarily spent in applying hangers to the garments.